This invention concerns an electronic device for regulating and controlling ambient temperatures.
The invention also concerns a setting method which uses the electronic device.
The invention is applied in the field of electronic devices, known as thermostats, used generally in the household to set daily and/or weekly programs for conditioning, heating and/or cooling inside a house, public premises or similar.
Even though the device according to the invention is applied preferentially as a thermostat for residential/domestic use, the invention can also be used as a regulator and/or measurer to control and govern parameters other than the temperature, such as humidity, in the commercial field of conditioning and heating.
The state of the art includes programming devices used, for example, in houses or public premises to condition the development of the ambient temperature in the course of a determined period of time. These programming devices comprise at least an intelligent unit, a memory able to memorize defined programs of heating or cooling, and an interface which allows a user to first set and later modify the heating and cooling programs.
The intelligent unit is also suitable to receive input signals relating to the values of ambient temperature by means of appropriate sensors and/or transducers, and to condition the activation of a heating or cooling unit in the event that the values of ambient temperature detected differ from the programmed values for that specific time period.
The programming device normally comprises a clock to measure the time and a display to display at least the temperatures set, the actual temperatures detected and the date (normally day of the week and time).
In recent years, such programming devices have become ever more evolved and able to allow more and more articulated and complex programming, in order to give the user very different programming possibilities, and thus to satisfy very specific requirements.
The programming devices, or thermostats, at present on the market therefore allow one to set several different programs, for example differentiating between working days and weekends; or they allow a specific programming, day by day, over 24 hours, for the whole week; or they allow to set various cooling or heating programs on a seasonal, monthly or weekly basis.
Parallel with the development of the functions and options of such devices, we have not seen an equal effort on the part of the producers to simplify the commands and make them easier for the user to understand.
It must be considered that these programming devices are very commonly used in a large number of houses, and that they may be used by people, who are not very familiar with electronic appliances and with programming procedures/systems. The devices are also used rarely, and often the commands which appear on the display are in a single language, almost always English, which not everybody understands.
The displays used are usually of the xe2x80x9cstaticxe2x80x9d type, with icons and segments, and therefore are not interactive with the user; moreover, conventional devices almost always require a large number of keys, each one specialised according to function.
Therefore, even though they may not be completely lacking in general knowledge of informatics and electronics, users are often obliged to consult the related instruction booklet (which is not always completely understandable), and the potential of the programming device can almost never be entirely exploited.
WO-A-98/37364 discloses a wireless programmable digital thermostat system comprising a plurality of transmitter units and a receiver unit for a thermostat system which includes a plurality of environmental control apparatus.
The receiver unit includes a controller adapted to be programmable in response to the input signals according to a plurality of programming modes.
The controller has a LCD display of a xe2x80x9cstaticxe2x80x9d type comprising a number of fixed segments and icons placed in fixed positions (this kind of display is called also xe2x80x9ccustomxe2x80x9d LCD display), which can only be switched on or not, depending on the controller status. This is a limit for the flexibility of the controller, because the number of the functions and the modes which can be displayed is a finite number and does not allow to introduce a new function, e.g. with a new name or icon.
Moreover, the user interface in the transmitter units comprises four keys, but at least two of them have no association at all with the display. This makes it necessary to press a combination of keys, even for a certain number of seconds in some cases, to enter in specific programming functions.
At least some of the keys have fixed functions which do not change according to the position in the programming menu.
All these shortcomings make the user interface of the controller unit of the WO""364 not intuitive, friendly and easy to manage for the users.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,714 discloses a controlling system for an air conditioning apparatus including a controlling apparatus, a main controller and room controller provided in each room.
The main controller includes a LCD display of a xe2x80x9cstaticxe2x80x9d type comprising a number of fixed segments and icons in fixed positions which can be switched on or not depending on controller status. Further, the main controller includes seven different keys able to activate a relatively small number of different functions.
The controller disclosed in US""714 has a rigid structure which renders it not intuitive and easy to manage the programming, or use by a normal user not skilled.
Further, the main controller of US""714 does not disclose a strict functional association between the function displayed temporally in a particular area of the display and the specific key associated to that area of the display.
The Applicant has devised, tested and embodied this invention to overcome these shortcomings which users of conventional programming devices have often complained of, and to achieve further advantages as will be shown hereafter.
The invention is set forth and characterized in the respective main claims, while the dependent claims describe other characteristics of the main embodiment.
The purpose of the invention is to achieve a device for conditioning (cooling and/or heating) ambient temperatures or more generally ambient parameters, which will allow on the one hand one to develop also diverse and complex setting and programming plans, and yet which on the other hand will be easy to use and quick to understand by substantially anybody.
Another purpose of the invention is to allow anybody to set personalized and diversified air conditioning programs easily and quickly, substantially without risk of errors, with an immediately perceptible confirmation such that the user will have verification, including visual verification, that the settings have been made.
A further purpose is to achieve a setting device with a setting method based on a plurality of menus which can be individually selected and run through by means of unified commands, immediately comprehensible, allowing a continuous interaction with the graphics appearing on the display.
These and other purposes are obtained with an electronic setting device comprising user interface means comprising at least a dot matrix display suitable to allow a continuous interaction with the user, both during setting and also during normal functioning, and of selection/control means consisting of a substantially reduced number of keys or knobs, the function of which are, at least for some of them, immediately perceptible from the indications which appear on the display itself.
In a preferential but not exclusive embodiment, the display is of the dot matrix LCD type.
In another embodiment, the display is of the dot matrix type using LED technology.
With a flexible display of this type, it is possible to display, even in the same position, a substantially infinite number of different letters, icons or numerals, with adjustable dimensions, according to the controller status and the position in the programming menu.
This flexibility permits to identify the specific function of every key or knob at every programming stage, making comprehension and use of the setting device particularly easy.
Moreover, use of a display of this type allows to introduce or modify one or more new functions, even with a new and different name or icon.
The alphanumeric indications which appear on the display are advantageously clear and large, and words which are easy and immediate to understand are used for these indications.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the words which appear on the display are in a language which can be selected by the user, in a setting phase, from among a plurality of different languages.
In a first embodiment, a selection/control unit comprises at least a pair of selection keys/buttons and at least a knob.
The selection keys/buttons inside a menu respectively assume at least the functions of confirming the setting already done, and of returning to a previous step, while the knob (or another pair of keys) allows one to move in the relative menu in one direction or another.
In another preferential embodiment, instead of the knob there is a pair of keys/buttons able to perform the function of xe2x80x9cUPxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cDOWNxe2x80x9d inside a relative menu.
According to the invention, the keys/buttons have a function which varies in relation to the position in the programming menu, this function being each time displayed on a specific area of the dot matrix type display, this area being associated with a specific key/button.
The setting method of the device according to a preferred embodiment of the invention comprises at least a procedure to select the language to be used, at least a procedure to set the date and time of a clock and at least a procedure to select a timed conditioning program in the ambient to be controlled.
Every setting made, after it has been displayed on the display so that the user can verify and check it, can be confirmed by using the relative confirm key. By using the return key or for time-out, the user goes back to the previous menus or the main state.
The device according to the invention, using the selection/control means appropriately according to the indications which appear on the display on each occasion, allows one to set various conditioning plans and programs according to the user""s specific requirements.
These programs can be set manually by the user, or selected from a package of pre-memorized programs; moreover, they can consist of monthly, weekly or daily programs and the same program can be repeated over two or more days.
Within the same day, it is possible to set various temperature profiles, for example hour by hour, or identified by periods of time characterizing and defining one or several individual different events.
Every setting is represented on the display clearly and intelligibly, also graphically, and can be, as aforementioned, confirmed or modified in an equally easy and immediately comprehensible manner.